The quiet dark of space: an environment completely free of the grime and noise that is near impossible to avoid on the planet's surface. In fact, the vacuum of space is incapable of carrying sound waves – that is, except for in the artificial atmosphere of certain man-made satellites.
"All right, Shadow. Let's finish this."
The heroic hedgehog tensed, ready to strike at the first sign of movement from his blackened mirror image. Shadow did likewise, leading into a short standoff – short due to Sonic's impatient and impulsive nature.
Shadow sidestepped Sonic's lunge with ease and fired off his signature yellow energy, which, despite Sonic's equally fast reflexes, grazed his opponent's arm. Sonic gritted his teeth and shifted his weight to his back leg, preparing to leap up for a homing attack.
"Beware of Shadow's special attack! Use the Somersault to avoid Chaos Spear!"
The sudden exclamation caught Sonic off-guard, causing him to overcompensate and fall flat on his face. Sonic groaned and swatted at Omochao, who was now flying circles above his head.
"I thought I threw you off the platform last level! And the five levels before that!"
A sharp bang interrupted Omochao's flight, and the small blue robot fell crumpled and smoking. Sonic peered up at the seriously ticked rival holding a sniper rifle.
"Um, thanks, but are you supposed to have that?"
Shadow scowled. "No, Sega'd never let their gameplay become cheapened by assault weapons." Across the fourth wall, Sega's executives started working furiously.
"Owie! I can't believe you did that to me! Why would you do something like that?"
Shadow's eyes narrowed. "But of course, they would let it be more truly immortal than 'the Ultimate Lifeform.'"
Strange clanking noises prompted him to turn around. Sonic stood by the edge of the platform, shaking the mechanical Chao mercilessly. "SPAWN OF SATAN! Why won't you diiiiiie?"
Omochao clicked and whirred, only slightly perturbed by the abuse he was enduring. "I'm not a weapon to throw at enemies, you know!"
If Shadow had seen the glint in his counterpart's eyes just then, he might have known to duck. The metal annoyance bounced off of his spines with a short cry of "help me!" Sonic's mischievous grin quickly faded as he remembered that the hedgehog he was provoking had been trying to kill him not five minutes ago.
Shadow plucked the flustered bot from the ground, intending to dispose of it (temporarily, at least) before he hammered Sonic into a very unique floor mat.
"What are you doing? Why don't you get yourself a teddy bear?"
"I – what?"
The utter absurdity of the statement left even the soon-to-be-proclaimed "Black-Hearted Evil" wordlessly gaping at Omochao, who cheerfully spun his little red propeller while staring up at him with lazily spinning eyes. Sonic, on the other hand, had collapsed on the platform and was now holding his aching sides.
"You with a – a – teddy bear?"
Shadow decided this was probably not the best time to bring up Shnookums (Maria's stuffed Hero Chao, who had been lent to him on many an occasion in his very early years), and dropped Omochao so he could resume the delayed pummeling that Sonic was really just begging for at this point.
"Stop that! What are you doing? You're making me mad!"
Shadow ignored the bot's outburst as he stomped towards Sonic, who had finally remembered that he was supposed to be in a death match with his opponent. The two hedgehogs resumed battle, and whether Omochao was hit in the crossfire (or used as the crossfire) was of zero concern to them. Various cries were noticed, but ignored, everything from the generic - "Hey! Stop it!" - to the nonsensical - "I'm sorry. I understand. I will eat all my carrots."
And then things got just plain weird.
Sonic had just grabbed Omochao to potentially use as an alternate target for one of Shadow's Chaos Spears, when the metal creation said, "If you let me go, I'll tell you how many Omochao there are."
Hero and anti-hero alike stopped mid-step and stared at Omochao, who bore the same smiling expression, even after all its abuse (although its propeller was a little bent). They looked at each other. They looked at Omochao. Then they looked back at each other.
Shadow raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "If we knew how many there were…"
"Then we could take them ALL out!" Sonic grinned almost maniacally as he set down his captive. "All right, bolts for brains. How many of you shiny twits are there?"
Omochao was still for a moment, the clicking of his gears the only noise it made. Then it turned veeeeery slowly, until it faced both hedgehogs. And then, it began to sing.
It was a curious sound; each synthetic note echoed within the metal body, making the tune both louder and less natural. Even curiouser was that as it sang, more Omochao appeared in the distance and came to join their brethren in song.
"Fascinating. I would not have expected such an unusual song choice, had I known they would sing at all."
Sonic had been brainstorming what would be the most satisfying means of destroying the robots, and only after Shadow's off-hand observation did he pay attention to what they were singing. As he did, a sudden chill crept up his spine.
"Uh, Shadow? Maybe we should just leave them alone. I mean, we've still got our battle to finish, and, um, maybe they really are helpful to some people, so, um, could we just, you know, get out of here?"
Shadow fastened his disdainful eyes on his blue double. "Don't tell me, faker, that you are afraid of a few toys singing a happy tune?"
Easily fifty Omochao had gathered by this point, and every one kept singing with enthusiasm…
"Can you see?
The sun is shinin' on me.
It makes me feel so free,
so alive!
It makes me want to survive!
And the sky,
it makes me feel so high,
The bad times pass me by
'cause today
is gonna be a brighter day!"
Sonic looked downright terrified. "You don't know, you weren't around during the World Grand Prix… there was this, this thing…"
"Can you feel the sunshine?
Does it brighten up your day?
Don't you feel that sometimes
You just need to run away?"
"We thought it was sealed away… we've heard rumors, but we never believed any of them…"
"Reach out for the sunshine
Forget about the rain
Just think about the good times
And they will come back again"
"Faker, what nonsense are you going on about? What 'thing'? And what – are they melting?"
The Omochao were, indeed, melting into rivers of glistening metal flowed to a single point on the deck, where they swirled hypnotically before rising into a bulbous mass. And even when there were no bodies that could possibly be producing it, the song continued on.
"Without you,
there's nothing for me to do
Can you feel the sunshine, too?
It's comin' through;
it makes me feel brand new"
Both hedgehogs were dumb with fear as the mass began to take form – a head, a body and thin limbs with rounded appendages materialized from the churning liquid. Even colors began to spin into existence, as the whole abomination slowly turned a shade of yellow-orange. The metamorphosis was completed by an ominous red gem that emerged from the forehead.
"When you're here,
I wish you were always near
'cause everything's so clear
And today
is gonna be a brighter day"
The body hung limply in midair like a suspended puppet. When it lifted its head, even Shadow backed away in horror at the sight of the empty voids that took the place of eyes. Now the voices of the Omochao were joined by a hundred others: deep drones, screeching sopranos, hoarse noises that were too out of tune to be properly called notes – and above them all, a single young child's lilting tone.
"Can you feel the sunshine?
Does it brighten up your day?
Don't you feel that sometimes
You just need to run away?"
The creature known as the Tails Doll flew in close, and, for the first time in their lives, Sonic and Shadow could not run away, no matter how much they desired to. Paralyzed by their fear, there was naught to do but watch as it tilted its head curiously and spoke in that single child's voice…
"You won't be able to just attack him! Try something to lower his defenses!"
"AHHHHHH!"
The pair finally found their feet again, and as they ran, Sonic turned to his rival.
"See? I told you it was evil!"
AN: Remember this the next time you think about tormenting an Omochao for being annoying ;)
Happy Halloween!